Part 1 - The Outer Rim
Overview Summary of The Liberator's journey through the Outer Rim. This storyline of events began on the 19-1-2018. Chapter 1 - The Stranded Excavator As The Liberator continued its course through the Outer Rim passing into the expansive asteroid field, a strange distress signal sent from an unknown source was received by the Republic Navy. Navy Petty Officer Juvare was quick to decipher the message before responding to their first Outer Rim contact. “This is Petty Officer Juvare of the Republic Navy, we have received your message.” There was silence for a few seconds before a desperate and strained voice replied. “A human voice! The names Jak Mar, my ships a wreck and I’m stranded out here on a rock...” The two continued to chat, Jak revealing himself to be an Outer Rim excavator who had been left for dead after a run-in with pirates. From the brief communication, it was clear that he was oxygen-deprived and on the brink of death. A rescue team, lead by Commander Wolffe, was quickly scrambled and deployed in search of Mar’s shipwreck. He was quickly brought onboard and given urgent first aid and a full oxygen supply. Medcorps worked quickly to identify injuries and apply Bacta while 327th assisted in the repairs to Mar’s armour. After regaining consciousness, Wolffe questioned Mar under the supervision of 5th Fleet. Jak explained he had been excavating on the planet Haven for a rare Outer Rim element which was a valuable component in ship fuel; ununpentium. In exchange for a little revenge on the pirates that almost killed him, Mar was willing to provide the location of his cache and split some of the haul with the Liberator crew. Following a brief meeting between the commanders and Jedi General Narla Surian, it was agreed that they would launch an attack on Haven to eliminate the pirates and secure Jak’s cache while they possessed the element of surprise… Chapter 2 - The Element of Surprise A small crew of Clones, led by demolitions expert LT Spike, were deployed via LAAT to clear some of the asteroids that blocked The Liberator’s path. Upon their return the ship promptly jumped to hyperspace, en route to Haven. The troops were briefed and within minutes The Liberator entered Haven’s orbit and LAAT’s were fueled and ready to depart. Landing on a long strip of beach, Wolffe was quick to delegate roles, establishing a comms tower and sending 91st Recon to scout out the large facility. 91st reached the facility undetected by patrolling pirates and primed their snipers. A shot rang out across the facility and missed the head of a pirate. In panic, he called for reinforcements and the stealth operation was blown. The main Clone force made their way swiftly across the channel between the beach and the facility and aided 91st as they exchanged fire with the pirates. It only took minutes for the superior Clone force to eliminate all hostiles and locate Jak Mar’s cache. All units of Ununpentium were successfully retrieved and swiftly loaded into a container, proceeding the Clone forces back to The Liberator. With Jak Mar’s revenge executed and the rare Outer Rim element secure onboard, the mission was considered a resounding success. Chapter 3: Traces of a Sabotage With the engineers observing and learning, 6 units of Ununpentium were integrated with The Liberator’s engines. Immediately Liberator AI - RA3 commented on the increase of fuel efficiency and all seemed well. Several hours later, a huge explosion rocked the ships as the engines burst into flames, spewing a caustic, flaming substance across the Engine room. RA3 was quick to point out a component of the Ununpentium had combusted violently whilst in use and had caused the engines to rapidly overheat. The finger of blame was pointed at Jak Mar, who had helped the crew bring the element onboard, accusing him of sabotage. Mar was found unconscious in the Engine room, thrown against the wall by the violent explosion. After emergency medical treatment for everyone injured by the incident, he was questioned as to what was really being placed into the ship’s engines. RA3 announced that trace chemicals had set off a chain reaction, bringing the crew to the conclusion the cache of Ununpentium had been tampered with. 5th Fleet and Jedi Knight Visenya Taelinarys scrambled together to find the truth… Chapter 4: The Oninn Wastelands With their fuel supply decimated and their new fuel extender in the process of being ejected into space, morale was low. Not even 5th Fleet with the assistance of Visenya Taelinarys were able to find out who had sabotaged the ships engines. A planet close by caught Jak Mar’s attention and he immediately contacted the Command Bridge, desperate to remove the shadow of doubt cast over him. The planet Oninn was an uninhabitable world, torn apart by a chemical war some time ago. If quick, the crew of The Liberator had the potential to gather as many vital resources as they could. Despite doubt over his intentions, Visenya agreed with Mar’s plan to resupply from Oninn. A small team of Clones, led by General Taelinarys descended to the surface and quickly got to work collecting fuel, scrap metal and another cache of Ununpentium left by Mar. After holding off horrifically deformed native creatures, the Clone forces finished the retrieval of supplies and secured them into an LAAT. Just as they began extraction, a deadly chemical fog began to roll in across the wastes. As the LAAT ascended back towards The Liberator, they watched as the fog thickened and settled in the valley of the wastes...